Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information

[wanta911]

I have found that a little isolation goes a long way with the Aries. I had it sitting on a couple vibrapods since I got it about 6 weeks ago. The other night I glanced over in my cabinet and had a couple of unused brass footers laying there. I located them on the rear of the Aries above the inputs and everything tightened up for the good. Vocals which I have always felt to be the weak point (possible midrange bump per High Fidelty review ) seemed to smooth out. Seems like that it would make sense with Aries slight of build. Please give it a try and let us know if you have noticed an improvement.

 

Happy Holidays,

Russ

 

Stop it! Now you're messing with my head.

 

After reading your post I put a big heavy book (3.5kg) on top of the Aries and it sounds better, it just seems tighter & smoother overall when listening to my Beck Sea Change album. Now I don't know whether it's a real difference or the power of suggestion at work

 

Happy Holidays!

[wanta911]

Thanks to you and others for posting. I'll buy some footers today and try for myself.

 

Where are you going to to get them from JD?

[wanta911]

Just got the 1.11 firmware update....not sure what's in it though?

 

Edit: From the Facebook page:

 

-Fix the bug that ARIES display may not get updated correctly in previous version of firmware.

-Fix the bug that ARIES could not wake up from standby.

-Fix the bug that Lightning Server will crash if DFF file contains ID3 tag information.

-Fix the bug that Lightning Server could not identify hard disk if the first partition number does not start by "1".

-Fix the bug that Lightning Server does not provide MIME information correctly.

-Lightning Server will not read HFS+ partition contains journaled error now (User need to fix the error on Mac first).

-ARIES can remember shuffle and repeat status after switching to different service mode like radio now.

[wanta911]

I tried the yearOnly tag Option, rescanned and refreshed cache, but the release dates in LDS still show Jan.1 Must be an LDS glitch.

 

Same here.....

[wanta911]

I loaned my Vega out to someone and hooked up my ODAC ($99 at the time) to my ARIES. OMG!

 

OK, I'll bite

 

Please elaborate.......

[wanta911]

Not much to say...it sounds awesome!

 

So the Vega is history? Or can't you do without all the features?

[wanta911]

Yeh my Nad M51 sound was transformed when i received my Aries,i was thinking about a Dac upgrade at the time but i suspect if you can feed a low jitter low noise feed to any Dac the difference become very small but of course this is just a theory as i don't have much experience with different quality Dac's,Vaga has me thinking though,could be my next upgrade lol

 

JT might have one for sale (LOL)

[wanta911]

Ok... My stupid mistake... Not selecting it from the leftmost panel

 

I did the same

[wanta911]

updated to ver 2.1. SQ on the midrange has more body, the lower region notes are more accurate, high are more natural - bad more me....i like my highs to be rolled off, definitely more air and space but at the expense of soundstage - not as wide after the update More PLUSES overall than negatives.

 

Well done AURALIC

 

It's amazing how different people's experiences can differ. Being in OZ I've had most of the day to listen to my setup with the firmware upgrade. It is obvious that this was not a subtle change to the SQ. It is early days yet and I intend to do a lot more critical listening before I make judgements but here are my preliminary impressions:

 

The Good

Much more "air" around instruments as has already been described by others.

HF & high mids seem to be a little "sweeter".

 

The Bad

Something seems to be missing on some tracks, there is less "body" and sometimes it can sound "thin"? This is in complete contrast to above

 

No Change

Soundstage feels the same to me.

 

As I said there is a lot more listening to do with different music and first impressions can be misleading. I know that from experience that my mood or level of tiredness and/or relaxation can dictate how I hear, so tomorrow is another day.......

[wanta911]

Upgraded today to 2.1 - SQ improvement is nothing short than stunning... Much better highs, bigger soundstage, meaty bass, the whole is more coherent and musical. Does anyone know what exactly the folks at Auralic have changed and why it sounds so damn good?!?

 

Well I can tell you that it is louder. In an A/B comparison I did with my Oppo 105 as a transport a few months back I noted that the volumes were pretty much matched running through the same DAC, after the firmware update and doing the same comparison, there is a marked difference in volume of at least 1 to 2 db. I guess this has to do with the presentation being a lot more forward, it's almost like there has been a frequency boost somewhere in the 2000 to 5000hz range?

 

Whilst I agree that there is a lot to like in the update, the jury is still out in my house on the much more forward presentation of vocals. Still a lot more listening to do.......

[wanta911]

In a multi tasting operation system multiple processes share the same processor. A special process the dispatcher controls, which process get the processor for a few steps and who is next (it's a bit more complicated in fact). This means that when you start a task you have no guarantee when it is finished. Because this depends on the load and other processes. (Non deterministic)

 

Real time kernel means that the kernel guarantees that a task is completed within a well defined timeline (deterministic).

 

This is in general worse from an overall performance point of view. But especially for music a guaranteed timing is essential. And we have heard that it works. :-)

 

I'm impressed by your explanation and I'm also unimpressed that I still don't fully understand, which by the way is not the least bit surprising - LOL

[wanta911]

Hi,

 

For option 1 I've looked at the mini Dsp units but the sample rate conversion they do scares me.

 

 

Hi Karl,

What exactly does this mean?

[wanta911]

My understanding from reading their website is the Dirac version of mini DSP hardware creates a single 96k filter rather than one for each sample rate in use. I therefore assumed that it sample rate converts the incoming stream to 96k regardless of source sample frequency.

 

Ahh ok........well I guess then it depends on whether you really hear the difference between say 96k & 192k material. Personally I don't think I do. I have heard quite a few differences in high res material vs redbook, only to find out that in a number of cases they were actually different masterings, so was I hearing a difference in bitrate or production?

 

I use correction hardware but only for minimum phase correction up to 200hz just to smooth out a couple of peaks and nulls in the LF and it has the same limitation of the 96k filter. I did extensive A/B testing of this versus running the Aries to my Vega DAC without the correction and could not hear the difference between pure 192k and 192k filtered to 96k. Well there was one major difference - the bass response was a lot better on the 96k filtered material

 

Again.......this is my personal experience and yours may differ.

[wanta911]

I noticed absolutely no SQ change with 2.2

[wanta911]

Firmware version 2.3 loaded without a hitch. Release notes here:

 

http://www.auralic.com/do…/aries_firmware_release_notice.pdf

[wanta911]

My two Aries did spontaneously update to FW 2.3 successfully today. Having heard about 2.3 being out, I went to check Aries FW revision in LDS app, only to find both units already updated to 2.3 without any interaction.

 

The WiFi modules inside these two Aries are different, but this does not appear to affect whether FW can be successfully updated.

 

An oddly enough, mine notified me of the update and asked if I wanted to update the firmware.

 

Me too.

 

Mine did ask for the update from 2.1 to 2.2 to be accepted, but not from 2.2 to 2.3.

 

Mine also updated just by itself. Opened lightningds and there was fw 2.3 alredy installed

 

I upgraded my Aries firmware last week to 2.2 after being off-line for a month while reorganizing my music to a USB drive and the display went dark. When I realized firmware 2.3 was out today I updated with fingers crossed (I think it updated automatically) but the display is still dark.

 

Wow! So many different experiences with firmware updates. My last two updates were absolutely flawless with LDS asking me if I wanted to reboot due to a firmware update - within seconds it was done. The only time I had somewhat of an issue, was when I went looking for an update after finding out it was available and I rebooted the unit without any notification.

 

FWIW I now run only on Wi-Fi with no ethernet cable attached and never turn the unit off. Coincidently, it seems that since I did this that I have had seamless operation, although it probably has more to do with the FW updates themselves

[wanta911]

I was awoken at 2:20am last night by someone playing music and it seemed really close by. It took me a few seconds to gather my thoughts and realise that the someone was ME. I stumbled into the living room and there was my Aries playing the first track on the Jesse Ware Devotion album, which was the last album I played some 4 hours earlier - WTF?

 

I don't turn the Aries off and the amp gets left on idle most of the time, unless I know I won't be using it for at least a day.

 

I have no idea how this happened but I hope it's not a common occurrence, it was actually a bit creepy

[wanta911]

Details of their new mini now on their facebook page:

 

https://www.facebook.com/auralic.ltd

 

...and here on the forum:

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f8-general-forum/high-end-munich-2015-thread-24431/#post425826

 

....and here on the forum as well:

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f8-general-forum/auralics-next-big-thing-24173/#post425745

 

.....and the link to the PDF comparison:

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/attachments/f8-general-forum/18572d1431621005-auralics-next-big-thing-aries_mini.pdf

[wanta911]

Okay, I have just finished working my way through all 96 pages of this thread. I have read many posts about how much you Aries owners like the SQ. But, I have also read even more posts about the problems people are having. The Aries is at the top of my list for possible purchase, but I really don't want to mess with this thing all the time. I anticipate some bumps setting up whatever I get. After that I just want it to work.

 

I realize the Aries is a work in progress and Auralic has clearly stated that more changes are coming. I'm very impressed with Auralic's responsiveness to reported problems, as well as the willingness of you Forum members to help others.

 

So, I guess my question is this: Except for the unexpected consequences of the FW updates, does the Aries just work without needing a lot of fiddling (after the initial set-up)?

 

Mark

 

Just remember that issues are always highlighted in threads - as they should be. A forum is a great place to get things ironed out with the help of others. There have been a lot of issues in this thread that I have never encountered and FW upgrades have never caused any problems. I have also never heard changes to SQ apart from firmware version 2.1. The only glitch I currently encounter is with sometimes getting Songcast to recognise the Aries, but it is not a big deal.

 

The Aries is a very popular item and I personally have nearly 12 months of trouble free use with it. Despite countless instances of loving the way it works - I refrain from posting my adoration on each occasion in this thread

[wanta911]

I own an Aries and it is listed under Networks on my Windows 8.1 PC. However, when I double-click on it, it asks for a Username and Password. Does anyone know the Username and Password for the Aries?

 

Thanks

 

It should be "auralic" for both.....

[wanta911]

As usual I got the update and only noticed there was one after coming here, I've never had an issue with the firmware updates.

 

There doesn't seem to be any release notes available like there usually is.....

[wanta911]

This morning, my Aries had upgraded itself to 2.6.1 and USB support for my Metrum (M2tech) is working again. This is in accordance with the updated release notes.

 

Release notes? I checked the site and the latest is 2.5.

[wanta911]

http://www.auralic.com/download/aries_firmware_release_notice.pdf

 

You may have to press the refresh button in your browerser.

 

Thanks! Yes the refresh button was needed

[wanta911]

Hmm, something's fishy. When I click a track in an album overview (Library view, music from my NAS), the album is loaded into the playlist and music begins from that track. So far so good. But it seems that the track after that track is played twice. This can be easily reproduced. 2.7 fixes an issue where the second track of an online streaming will repeat twice. To me it looks that something may have gone wrong in that fix. Time to write to Auralic...

 

Yep - I've had some tracks repeating over the last hour. The Aries is showing the next track as playing but actually repeating the previous track. I wondered what was going on and then saw that there had been a firmware update......

[wanta911]

So, can some people test the scan speed of the 2.10 firmware. For me it seems slower than the 2.9.2. Especially if you are doing a rescan of a unmodified library. It seems to be the first scan event if you do not modify anything in your library.

 

Yes it is much slower. My impression is that it takes at least 3-4 times longer to scan my library than before.

 

Certainly not a big deal for me as it happens in the background, but I am curious to know why it changed. Perhaps it has something to do with the fixes for reading music files larger than 2GB or the album covers???